


words between us

by jughands



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Secret Santa 2017, happy holidays to my fave cranky introverts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13145868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jughands/pseuds/jughands
Summary: The snow had settled, and what was left was the crisp air and the glow of streetlights bathing everything in a soft orange glow. Kyoutani thought it gave Yahaba’s skin a nice, dewy color but what he didn’t know was that Yahaba was thinking the same thing about him.





	words between us

**Author's Note:**

> happy holidays! this was for 2017's haikyuu!! secret santa gift exchange. i hope you enjoy it, Taki (@hqstuffilike on tumblr)!

Kyoutani’s phone vibrated three times in quick succession. 

_i can’t believe i forgot my gloves :(_  
_and of course it’s snowing  
_ _but i saw that the ice rink is open on my way over_

He didn’t even have to reply to know what Yahaba wanted. Instead, he rolled himself out of bed and dipped feet into boots and arms into his jacket, making sure to stuff an extra pair of scraggly gloves into one of his pockets. As he closed the door behind him, Kyoutani reminded himself to gently tease Yahaba for texting during his cram school class. 

There was just enough snow on the ground to make a satisfying crunch; at the same time, there was just enough snow falling to make the walk over to the school a slight nuisance. 

Kyoutani thudded onwards, enjoying the relative silence of his neighborhood. Usually there was always something going on, whether it was the old ladies gossiping at the street corner or the television at the outdoor mini-mart broadcasting a baseball game for everyone in a five mile radius. It was noisy and rowdy, but the snow had cooped everything and everyone indoors. Besides a few cars braving their way down slippery pavement, Kyoutani was alone. 

He was able to walk with relative comfort here, knowing where things were and who was watching him from inside curtains. He would get to the school around eight if he didn’t make any stops, which would give him about fifteen minutes of waiting to do before Yahaba came around. 

But he did make a stop to pick up Yahaba’s favorite candy bar, so he arrived at the school with a little under ten minutes to spare. 

The snow was piling up by the time he made it, and his boots were sinking in quicker than they were crunching. There was an awning at the entrance of the school, and he squatted by the door, hoping that if he looked menacing enough, no one would bother him. 

Kyoutani wasn’t quite sure where their neighborhoods changed, but walking around where Yahaba grew up always put him on edge. Where his was smiling locals and bargain shops, Yahaba’s was cold tourists and trendy boutiques. Everyone was on a phone and when they weren’t they were drilling holes into the back of Kyoutani’s head with their eyes.

Yahaba had tried to put him at ease; “the delinquent look is very fashionable right now,” he had said as he pointed at Kyoutani’s racing stripes and bleached hair. “They’re just admiring your, uh…” He had waved a hand in the air. “General rebelliousness.” 

Kyoutani had ignored him at the time, but when he looked at himself in the reflection of his phone, he had to wonder if his look was becoming too mainstream. Do I need to get rid of the stripes? One of Kyoutani’s secret and darkest fears was that one day he would see Oikawa, king of trends, showing up to visit with his hair bleached and his ears pierced. 

But then he heard a clatter of voices and footfall and a wave of students came pouring out of the school. They were wearing nice coats and nice boots and a lot of them had umbrellas; Kyoutani quietly frowned at himself for not bringing one for Yahaba. He stood up, trying to straighten his pants and wipe down his shirt of all its unnoticeable imperfections. A few people stared at him as they passed, but he went mostly unnoticed. 

“Oh!” A voice approached him, and Kyoutani felt his anxieties settle just a little bit at the bottom of his stomach. “Hey!” Yahaba was at his side and all the visions of Oikawa with a mohawk had vanished out of his head. 

Kyoutani nodded a greeting, and Yahaba accepted it with a grin because he knew that Kyoutani wasn’t about to just hold a conversation with him in front of rich high school strangers. They stood under the awning until most of the students had dispersed. Even though the weather was crummy and he had just sat through hours of extra classes, Yahaba still looked almost immaculate. His hair, despite being shoved under a hat, still held a soft bounce that Kyoutani just wanted to run his fingers through. 

Instead, he held out the pair of gloves.

“Thank god.” Yahaba grabbed for them, giving Kyoutani’s hand a little squeeze as he did. “Your hands are bigger than mine, though.” 

“You should have brought yours, then.” 

Yahaba hummed as he tugged the gloves on. “I definitely thought I put them in my backpack, but I guess I’m just not meant to be a perfectionist like you.” 

They smirked at each other like they were sharing some kind of secret joke, and Kyoutani stepped out from under the awning and into the snow. He held out his arm and motioned towards Yahaba’s backpack. “I’ll take it.” 

“Thank you.” Yahaba handed him the strap, Kyoutani flung the backpack over his shoulder and they were off, well behind the rest of the students. They walked in comfortable silence. Kyoutani knew that Yahaba needed time to recharge, and Yahaba knew that Kyoutani wasn’t much of a talker; between the two of them, silences balanced out and were sometimes better than their conversations. 

“Was the walk down super bad?” 

“It was okay,” Kyoutani shrugged. “The snow was… not so snowy.” 

Yahaba’s laugh broke through the relative quiet of the street. “Very articulate.” 

“You would know, since texting me is apparently more important than your classes.”

“Ugh.” Yahaba threw his hands behind his head, emphasizing his distaste for the sudden mention of school. “Yeah, it was. It was so boring today I thought I was going to just drop dead on the floor. No more talking about school.” But of course Yahaba then had to delve into every class he had sat through and why it was boring and who was gossiping about who and eventually his words and stories had filled the sky even more than the snowflakes. 

Kyoutani listened to every word, memorizing every story Yahaba told and enjoying the sound of his voice. It was rebounding against the snow and getting magnified since there was nothing else to compete with and it was very pleasant to listen to. 

Most of the stores around them had closed the for the night, keeping the fluorescent glow of shop signs at bay. Occasionally they would pass a businessman rushing home, and even more occasionally they would pass a couple huddled together, bundled up and walking with hands clasped together. Their eyes would both catch on gloved hands wrapped together but they would continue onwards without saying a word. 

They had been together for a little over a year, and it wasn’t like they weren’t intimate, but Kyoutani still hadn’t brought himself to hold Yahaba’s hand in public or touch him in public or to even let his eyes linger in public. Granted, Yahaba also hadn’t done anything, so they floated through the seasons with their shoulders barely touching. 

“It’s cold,” Yahaba muttered mostly to himself as they came up on the main shopping center. Whereas the rest of the neighborhood had been tranquil, this hub was bustling and loud and bright. Kyoutani saw scores of people coming out of the subway station or taking pictures in the snow and immediately felt his stomach twisting. Everything and everyone was sleek and clean, and he was now hyper aware of every tear in his ratty sweatpants and every stain on his favorite sweatshirt. 

“Hey,” Yahaba nudged him, a rare occurrence so close to watchful eyes. It jolted Kyoutani out of his fears, as if that was exactly what Yahaba had meant to do. “Let’s go ice skating.”

“Where?” Kyoutani wrinkled his nose. 

“I saw it on my way to school. Did you read my text?” 

“Yeah, but it wasn’t very specific.” 

“Near here. It didn’t look very crowded a couple of hours ago.” 

Yahaba had already started marching a few feet in front of him, and that point Kyoutani knew there wasn’t much of a point in arguing against it. He followed behind Yahaba, putting his own boots into the footprints that were left behind. 

 

“No way!” Yahaba leaned on the edge of the rink, reading the CLOSED sign with a long, disappointed sigh. The rink was entirely outdoors, entirely dark, and entirely empty. “We only missed it by an hour. That’s so annoying.” He folded his arms, staring up at the sky as if he was going to start cursing the clouds. 

Kyoutani sat on a bench next to him, setting the backpack down on the ground. It was starting to get heavy. 

“What do you want to do?” 

Yahaba sat next to him, arms still crossed. “Well, I can’t watch you totally eat shit on the ice, so I’m not sure.” 

“Who says I’d eat shit?” 

“Have you ever been ice skating before?” He hadn’t, but he folded his own arms across his chest. 

“Have you?”

“Of course!” Yahaba rubbed the back of his neck, which Kyoutani had learned in the years of knowing the ins and outs of Yahaba meant that he was lying. 

“Sure,” he sneered, giving Yahaba a gentle push. “I bet you’d fall more than me.” 

“Absolutely not.” Yahaba shoved him back. They did this a few times back and forth, exchanging short quips and shorter bursts of contact. They didn’t decide on who would eat more shit than the other, but they did end up laughing, blowing puffs of air into the sky. 

“Oh.” Kyoutani reached into another pocket, passing the candy bar into Yahaba’s lap. He watched Yahaba raise his eyebrows, squint his eyes, and smile. He had to wiggle his hand out of Kyoutani’s glove to rip open the wrapper and once he did he broke the bar in half. Yahaba passed half of it back to Kyoutani, and they once again sat in silence as they chewed on the respective ends of the candy bar. 

The snow had settled, and what was left was the crisp air and the glow of streetlights bathing everything in a soft orange glow. Kyoutani thought it gave Yahaba’s skin a nice, dewy color but what he didn’t know was that Yahaba was thinking the same thing about him. 

“Thanks for coming all this way,” Yahaba finally said, shoving the candy wrapper into his jacket pocket. “I know it’s not easy.” Kyoutani didn’t know if he was talking about the walk itself or the existential dread that came from dating someone that lived with a rich family in a rich neighborhood, but he didn’t ask. 

“You never would have shut up about your hands being cold.” 

“Well, they’re still a little cold.” Hesitantly, his ungloved hand snaked its way into Kyoutani’s jacket pocket, where his own hand was resting. Yahaba un-balled the fist that Kyoutani made without realizing it, and wrapped their hands together. He rested his head on Kyoutani’s shoulder. 

There was no one around and they sat for what felt like ages, enjoying each other in the simple solitude that had become the foundation of their relationship. There were no words and no banter; it was only them, sitting on a bench in the snow with their hands tangled together. 

Kyoutani finally decided to break the silence. “I think my toes are frozen.” 

“Mine too.” They broke apart. Yahaba walked himself to a nearby trash can to dispose of the candy wrapper, and Kyoutani stood and stretched before grabbing the backpack at his feet. 

As they walked back towards the shopping center they were as they had been; shoulders barely touching and hands shoved in their respective jackets. But they were both smiling. “You want to spend the night at my place?” Yahaba asked. “My parents are at a holiday party.” 

Kyoutani nodded in response, and together they walked forwards into the snow and into the light.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated :-)


End file.
